#fangirlproblems by Jennie Bennett

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Title: #fangirlproblems: A Kpop Romance Book
Author: Jennie Bennett
Published by: Indie
Release Date: May 20th 2018
Format: Kindle Book
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2018 #LetsReadIndie Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Adult Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 New Release Challenge, Lenoreo's 2018 Platypire Diversity Challenge
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks
My rating:

Blurb:

Talitha wanted one thing: to meet X-O’s Chansol, and this was her chance. As a nineteen-year-old culinary student, she was too poor to see the Kpop group in concert, but at least she could watch them walking by at the airport. As X-O is about to arrive, an overzealous fan claws through, knocking Talitha over and ruining any chance at an encounter.

Heartbroken, she heads to work, expecting another routine catering service, until she walks in to find herself face to face with Chansol. Instead of reacting like a normal person she breaks down in tears. Fight or flight kicks in and Talitha runs outside only to bump into the Korean paparazzi.

Worse yet, Chansol has followed her, and the paparazzi chase them off the premise. She thinks their escape together is an accident, but his motives for choosing Talitha are much deeper than she expects.

My Review:

3.5 stars — I’ve enjoyed a few of these Kpop Romances by Ms. Bennett, and they are always a fun, light, quick read!  This one was no exception.  There were so many cute moments between Chansol and Talitha, moments that totally made me smile and gave me butterflies.  Unfortunately, there were also some cringey moments for me, b/c I suffer from terrible secondhand embarrassment.  This won’t happen for everyone, it’s just a personal thing.

I’m not a Kpop or Kdrama fan, and I can honestly say that I don’t understand this level of fangirling…and so despite suspending my disbelief, I still had a hard time connecting with Talitha in this one.  She would have moments where I really loved her, those moments where we got to see her normal everyday self.  And I enjoyed some of her fandom, it was kind of adorable.  But there were moments where it just started making me feel uncomfortable.  I totally understand that many people feel this way about all sorts of celebrities, it’s just funny that I happen to be a bit opposite.  I tend to feel bad for celebrities, b/c they’re put on a pedestal, and seen as above the rest of us mere mortals.  Talitha wasn’t always like that, but it would come out every now and then and every time I cringed.  Honestly, she was a bit back and forth about this — some moments she would see Chansol as the guy he is behind the celebrity, and then in her thoughts she’d be back to calling him an idol.  I will admit that bummed me out a bit.  The celebrity stories I’m most attracted to are ones where the non-celeb sees the celebrity without all that artifice.  I kept waiting for that aha moment, and I didn’t get it in this one.  *shrugs*

And since we only had Talitha’s POV, I really didn’t get a chance to know Chansol that well.  He seemed pretty adorable from what I could tell though.  I was happy that at the end we got to understand why he was enchanted by her.  I had my own theories, and they were close, but I loved the parts I didn’t guess.

Sam was an intriguing friend character.  Sometimes she came across more cold or insensitive, and I was worried that her character would have a bad twist.  But instead we got a good twist, and I’m happy with how her part played out.

So yeah.  Still light, clean fun, with a good dose of adorableness.  But if you’re like me and celebrity hero worship makes you a bit squeamish, this may not be the best one to start with by Ms. Bennett.  Try Undercover Fan instead.